1. Field of the Invention
This invention basically relates to combination lavatory and toilet assemblies, and, more particularly, to such assemblies which include an enclosure means for a toilet supported independently of the enclosure means means wherein the toilet is pivotally movable from within the enclosure to a position outside of the enclosure for use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous prior art assemblies have attempted to create a combination lavatory and toilet assembly which will fill the particular needs and requirements of certain institutional users of such plumbing assemblies, such as hospitals, hospital wards of penal institutions and similar facilites. This is especially true in intensive care units (ICU's) and coronary care units (CCU's).
Such institutional buildings have become so expensive to construct that the costs thereof are sometimes determined on a square inch basis rather than the more conventional square foot of floor space basis.
From this, it can be readily appreciated that the costs of such facilities can be significantly reduced if a portion of the low-frequency-of-use and high maintenance portions of these facilities can be eliminated, such as some lavatory and toilet facilities which are normally housed in totally separate and individual rooms.
One approach to solving this problem has involved the attempt to create a relatively adaptable combination lavatory and toilet assembly which may be placed within the user's room without the need to place these facilities in a totally separate room. If this can be conveniently and acceptably accomplished, both the original building construction costs and the on-going of maintenance can be significantly reduced.
Perhaps the first lavatory toilet combination assembly of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 37,896 (Bissicks). The assembly of Bissicks provides a cabinet-enclosure, A, identified as a "case"therein, a wash-bowl B, a water closet C, a cover D for the water closet, and the appropriate water supply pipes and drain pipes. In order to reinforce the case A to permit proper support for the various pipes, water closet C and swivel F, a special bracket J is provided. The assembly of Bissicks, nevertheless, appears to possess a number of restrictive characteristics. The assembly of Bissicks does not provide any special means for moving the water closet in and out of the cabinet enclosure or case A. Presumably, the user of such an assembly is required to manually grab the water closet and swing it out of the cabinet to its position of use. Such a method is neither convenient nor sanitary. Further in a hospital, such a method is simply not acceptable for use by persons having physically debilitating infirmities. Further, the bracket J is used to support the water closet C, the swivel F and water supply pipe L, and, bracket J, is, in turn, supported by the case A. Accordingly, such requires that the case A must be strongly constructed to support not only these items, but also the weight of the user impressed upon the water closet C when in use. Another highly desirable feature not found in Bissicks is the capability of flushing the water closet regardless of the position of the water closet C. In Bissicks, water flushing occurs only when the water closet C is swung out of the case A. Additionally, the water flushing system provided by Bissicks is the continuous wash-out type which creates a relatively substantial amount of noise during the process of flushing; a highly undesirable feature for use in institutions, especially in hospitals.
Another combination lavatory toilet assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 971,826 (Burkhardt). A toilet bowl A is pivotally secured to a ball-bearing sleeve joint 2 which is, in turn, mounted on a waste pipe 3 so that the bowl A may be swung in and out of a cabinet 4. This operation is accomplished by way of an operating level 28 which is operatively coupled to a link 27 and the bell crank 27' which engages a fixed mutilated gear 24 which is engaged with a complementary segmental rack 25. The assembly of Burhardt provides that the operating lever 28 be operated independently of the door or the cabinet. Further, it should be noted that the ball-bearing pivot system for the toilet bowl A is supportively dependent with respect to the drain coupling to the waste pipe. Burkhardt fails to incorporate a trap in the toilet bowl A and is unacceptable by virtually all modern plumbing codes because of sewer gas (primarily methane gas, which is both toxic and flammable) leakage into the building housing the toilet bowl A. The toilet is supported completely by the buildings' plumbing via the waste pipe 3. Due to the nature of the Burkhardt invention, it is not adaptable for use with a wall mounted waste drain pipe. Also, the toilet bowl A cannot be flushed independently of the position of the bowl A. In this case, it cannot be flushed while in its stored position. In the event that the bowl A is flushed by pulling handle 30 while in its stored position, due to the fact that the drain opening 29 is closed in this bowl position, the water entering the bowl A cannot exit the drain opening 29 and the water will overflow the bowl A. Burkhardt also employs continuous washout flushing which is relatively noisy and undesirable for institutional use.
Yet another similar combination is embodied in U.S. Pat. No. 2,443,214 (Williams). The invention of Williams is functionally quite similar to that disclosed by Burkhardt. However, the following differences should be noted. The hopper 29 or toilet is mechanically coupled to the doors 3,4 so that when one of the doors is opened, the toilet is presented for use. However, like Bissicks and Burkhardt, Williams requires that the waste drain piping of the building provide the requisite support for the hopper 29. Williams further requires that the mechanical linkage be attached directly to the hopper 29 or toilet necessitating the use of non-standard hoppers. The water flushing sequence is not adaptable to modern usage in that the hopper is filled with water when presented for use and subsequently automatically flushed when returned to its stored position in the cabinet or wall partition. In essence, therefore, the flushing of the hopper 29 is not independent of the position of the hopper 29. And, still further, the combination of Williams is not adaptable for use with a wall-mounted waste drain and does not employ an enclosure independent from another supportive structure such as the wall of the building, as in this case.
Another combination enclosure and toilet assembly is disclosed in a German Pat. No. 840,528 (Oerther). In comparing the invention of Oerther to other units, while Oerther discloses the use of a closure or door member, it does not teach the use of a mechanical linkage therebetween to provide concommitant presentment of the toilet therewith. Further, the waste drain pipe is utilized to partially support the toilet. The highly desirable capability of being able to flush the toilet independently of the position of the toilet is provided by the invention disclosed by Oerther.
More recently, the Heintz Division of Kelsey-Hayes, a subsidiary of Fruehauf Corporation, introduced a combination plumbing fixture embodying a pivotable toilet bowl storable within a cabinet enclosure. Identified as Kelsey-Hayes Duralav Model 700, this particular combination lavatory and toilet bowl comprises a cabinet enclosure with a water faucet and lavatory arranged on the upper portion thereof, and further, having a lower front open portion with doors covering the open portion, and a toilet bowl which is pivotally mounted to a support means coupled to the waste connection enabling the toilet bowl to be moved into and out of the cabinet. Movement of the toilet bowl is effectuated by means of a mechanical linkage interconnecting one of the doors with the body of the toilet bowl so that when the door is opened, the toilet bowl is moved out of the cabinet for use. A handle operated locking mechanism ensures that the toilet bowl is maintained in a fixed position when it is positioned outside of the cabinet for use.
However, a number of limitations are found in this particular combination:
1. The mechanical linkage interconnecting one of the doors and the body of the toilet bowl is such that the door to which the linkage is connected must be pivotally moved more than 90.degree. from its initial or closed position. Since it is highly desirable to have as compact a cabinet enclosure as possible, the door is vertically hinged along the vertical edge of the side of the cabinet. This door movement does not permit the cabinet to be placed against a corner formed by the walls of a building, thereby limiting the scope of its use in an institutional room.
2. The water flush supply pipe is independent of the toilet bowl support bearing/swivel unit thereby requiring a relatively large enclosure volume to house the water flush supply pipe for the toilet bowl and toilet bowl bearing/swivel unit.
3. The toilet bowl support bearing/swivel unit is fixedly secured to the cabinet for support, thereby requiring that the cabinet be of sufficient strength to support it, usually requiring additional cabinet weight, increased cabinet material expense and construction cost.
4. The waste drain pipe is formed as an integral part of the toilet bowl support bearing/swivel unit, thereby necessitating reinforcement and adding substantial weight and material cost thereto. But, more importantly, this reinforcement includes the use of metallic struts and braces, typically found of L or U shaped sheet metal channels. This reinforcement creates a cabinet interior which is virtually impossible to maintain in a sanitary, germ and bacteria-free condition. Such unsanitary conditions are totally unacceptable for hospitals, hospital wards in penal institutions, and especially in intensive care and coronary care units.
5. The waste outlet piping is arranged for fluid coupling only to a wall mounted waste drain. This, of course, reduces its use in numerous existing plumbing situations where a substantial number of waste drain plumbing pipes are floor mounted.
6. The water flush supply pipe which produces the flushing action and interconnects the flushing rim and trap, is mounted beneath the trap elbow of the toilet bowl. This not only creates a probable security problem, but also requires additional material thereby increasing the cost to manufacture the unit. Further, this particular arrangement increases the volumetric envelope of the unit, thereby concommitantly increasing the requirement for a larger enclosure.
7. The Kelsey-Hayes unit employs a flexible plastic hose to fluidly couple the flushing valve outlet to a rigid water receiving conduit. This is necessitated because the rigid water receiving conduit is mounted off-center with respect to the toilet bowl vertical pivot axis of the toilet bowl support and pivot unit. Consequently, the rigid water receiving conduit is caused to move laterally as the toilet bowl is moved in and out of the cabinet enclosure to allow this lateral movement to take place. Because of this fluid coupling arrangement, a substantial volume is used within the cabinet enclosure for this water supply connection.
Still further, none of the above prior art references included a foot-operated water control valve system for controlling the flow of water to the spigot of the lavatory. Manual, or hand-operated, water control valve systems are generally unacceptable because such manual controls, whether such controls are pushbuttons or handles, are unsanitary for hospital usage, where the present invention has found, and is finding, wide-spread application and use. For example, a surgeon preparing for surgery must wash his hands several times prior to performing the surgery. If, after washing his hands or arms, the surgeon must now touch a pushbutton or a handle to start or stop the flow of water to the lavatory basin, re-contamination of the hands or arms occurs, thereby resulting in an unacceptable unsanitary condition. In fact, some states have laws prohibiting such hand-operated controls in such situations. California is one such state.
Another reason is that in most institutional environments such as hospitals, the high frequency of emergency situations which develop in such institutions virtually demand a means for conveniently and rapidly activating the valve which controls the delivery of water to the lavatory basin.
One of the most important, if not in fact, the most important requirement of such a combination lavatory and toilet assembly is that it be so constructed as to be easily and readily maintained in a sanitary condition. The reason for this is quite understandable.
In all of the prior art combinations discussed herein, it may be readily seen that when the enclosure is required to support the toilet and the associated swivel and piping system, it must be reinforced to properly support same. Such reinforcement includes the use of metallic struts and braces throughout the inside of the cabinet enclosure. This results in cabinet interiors which are difficult, if not impossible to maintain in a sanitary condition, making these units unsuitable for installation in hospitals, hospital wards in penal institutions, and particularly in intensive care and coronary care units.